EveryBooks / Industries / Manufacturing & distribution / Indirect tax compliance
Manufacturing & distribution
Indirect tax compliance
From ERP extract to prepared return with no spreadsheet in between. US sales and use tax, European VAT and Intrastat, each with an adjustment log your auditor can follow.
Who this is for. Tax director or indirect tax manager responsible for filings across US states and European jurisdictions.
The problem today
Returns are assembled in spreadsheets that sit between the ERP extract and the filing. Each one involves judgment that is applied, not recorded, so the return is defensible only for as long as the person who prepared it remembers why.
That gap is the audit risk. When an authority asks how a figure was derived, the answer is a workbook with no version history and formulas nobody has reviewed. Across several jurisdictions, each with its own quirks, the exposure compounds every period.
What we deliver
Returns prepared straight from ERP data
The extract feeds the return preparation directly. The spreadsheet layer goes away, and with it the class of error that layer produced.
US sales and use tax
Prepared per jurisdiction from transaction data, with the treatment applied consistently and every exception listed rather than absorbed.
European VAT and Intrastat
VAT returns and Intrastat declarations prepared from the same record, including the commodity and movement detail Intrastat requires that the ERP holds but does not report.
Tax engine import files
Import files generated in the format your tax engine expects, so the engine does the calculation it is good at and the preparation stops being manual.
An adjustment log an auditor can read
Every adjustment, with who made it, when, and the reason. The return becomes explainable years later by someone who was not there.
Missing and ambiguous treatment surfaced
Transactions the rules do not cleanly cover are flagged for a decision rather than assigned a default that nobody reviewed.
What agents do, and what your team approves
What the agents do
Agents extract the data, apply the agreed treatment, prepare each return and import file, log every adjustment and flag whatever the rules do not clearly cover.
What they never do
Your tax team reviews and files. Every return is approved by a named person, and every flagged transaction is dispositioned by a person before the return is finalised.
Systems we work with
- SAP
- Vertex
- Excel
- Alteryx
From past work
What we have built
We built the path from ERP extract to prepared return with no spreadsheet in between for a manufacturer, covering US sales and use tax as well as European VAT and Intrastat, with tax engine import file preparation automated. Agents build the monthly tax import from raw receivables and payables, touch the fewest jurisdictions possible and log every change. The result for that manufacturer was 72% fewer sales tax adjustments to defend in an audit.
Questions we get
United States only, or Europe too?
Both, and the combination is where this pays most. Running US sales and use tax and European VAT from one record removes the duplicated extraction and the risk of the two telling different stories about the same transaction.
How do you handle a jurisdiction we have missed?
The flag comes from the data. Transactions that imply an obligation you do not have a return for are surfaced, which is how registration gaps get found before an authority finds them.
What does the audit trail actually look like?
For any figure on any return: the transactions behind it, the treatment applied, every adjustment with its reason, and the person who approved the filing. Exportable as a package rather than reconstructed on request.
Do we still need our tax engine?
Yes, and we are not trying to replace it. The engine is good at rates and determination. What we automate is everything around it: extraction, preparation, the import file and the evidence.
Related
- Order to cash automationFaster billing, collections and receivables reporting.
- SOX and audit readinessControls and evidence stay ready all year.
- Tax compliance operationsRecurring tax work becomes faster, more accurate and easier to review.
- All Manufacturing & distribution workTax, receivables and compliance reports are rebuilt from the ERP every period by people who deserve better work.
- How we workRead the books, design for agents, ship them, train your operators, then run and improve.